U Thant Peace Award

The U Thant Peace Award was created by Sri Chinmoy's peace meditations at the United Nations, after U Thant's death.[1] First offered in 1982, the award is given to individuals and organizations who have exemplified the lofty spiritual ideals of the late United Nations Secretary-General U Thant and implemented those ideals in the tireless pursuit of world peace.[2]

Sri Chinmoy and U Thant, 1972

Recipients

It had been bestowed by The Peace Meditation at the United Nations upon Mahathir Mohamad, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Javier Perez de Cuellar, Kurt Waldheim the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Dada Vaswani, Swami Satchidananda and U Thant's daughter, Daw Aye Aye Thant.[3]

The U Thant Distinguished Lecture Series is a forum through which eminent thinkers and world leaders speak on the role of the United Nations in addressing the challenges facing the world's peoples and nations in the 21st century. The lecture series is co-organized by the United Nations University and the Science Council of Japan.

The UNU has a tradition of inviting world leaders and renowned individuals to Tokyo to explore the role of the United Nations in a rapidly changing world. The U Thant Distinguished Lecture Series builds upon this tradition by providing an opportunity for Nobel laureates and heads of state, current and former, to share their insights and experiences with scholars, policymakers, business leaders and the public.

On April 8th 2006, the Award was offered to Kofi Annan, who refused it. Similarly in 2007, Ban Ki-moon declined the Award.

Recipients of the U Thant Peace award
Year Recipient Country
1982 Zenon Rossides  Cyprus
1983 Jorge Illueca  Panama
1986 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar  Peru
Russell Barber  United States
1991 Vilayat Khan  India
Guido de Marco  Malta
1993 Ganesh Man Singh    Nepal
Siddhartha Shankar Ray  India
Chidambaram Subramaniam  India
1994 James P. Grant  United States
Mother Teresa[1][2]  India
Mikhail Gorbachev[1][2]  Russia
1995 Laxmi Mall Singhvi  India
Rafael Hernández Colón  Puerto Rico
Desmond Tutu  South Africa
1996 Nelson Mandela[1][2]  South Africa
Robert Mugabe  Zimbabwe
Maurice Strong  Canada
Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan  India
1997 Ananda Guruge  Sri Lanka
Vladimir Petrovsky  Russia
Carl Lewis  United States
14th Dalai Lama  China
Inder Kumar Gujral  India
1998 Dada Vaswani  India
Pope John Paul II[1][2]  Poland
Claiborne Pell  United States
Ja'afar of Negeri Sembilan  Malaysia
1999 Mahathir Mohamad[4]  Malaysia
Girija Prasad Koirala    Nepal
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai    Nepal
Ted Turner  United States
Anwarul Karim Chowdhury  Bangladesh
2000 Svenn Kristiansen  Norway
Humayun Rashid Choudhury  Bangladesh
Gary Ackerman  United States
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami[5]  United States
2001 Atal Bihari Vajpayee[2]  India
James Parks Morton  United States
2002 Satchidananda Saraswati[6]  India
Daw Aye Aye Thant[7]  Myanmar
Ravi Shankar[8]  India
2004 Kurt Waldheim  Austria
2007 Ibrahim Gambari  Nigeria
Bill Pearl  United States
Pascal Alan Nazareth  India

References
  1. New Straits Times "King presented with U Thant Peace award". 1998-12-31. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  2. Hinduism Today "Sri Chinmoy Presents U Thant Award". 2001-02-04. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  3. srichinmoy.org "The U Thant Peace Award". 2010. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  4. "Dr M gets peace award". New Straits Times. 1999-01-05.
  5. Hinduism Today "Our Publisher Honored". November 2000. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  6. poetseers.org "Swami Satchidananda". Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  7. srichinmoybio.co.uk "Daw Aye Aye Thant". Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  8. srichinmoy-reflections.com "Ravi Shankar Gets U Thant Peace Award". December 2010. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
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